Letter: Irresponsible and reckless reporting followed Newtown tragedy

We're still trying to make sense of the unthinkable tragedy that occurred in Newtown, Conn.

As if the violence itself wasn't terrible enough, Americans were also forced to contend once again with unreliable and irresponsible reporting from the mainstream media that in itself could easily have led to more violence.

In the first few hours when no one knew exactly what was going on, CNN erroneously and recklessly reported that a 24-year-old man, Ryan Lanza, was the one who had blasted away at children in an elementary school in Connecticut.

The problem with their story was that Ryan Lanza was at work in Hoboken, N.J., during the massacre, more than an two hours away.

Unfortunately, that fact did not stop MSNBC, Fox News, AP, and others from following CNN's lead story by spreading erroneous information, along with photos of Lanza from his Facebook profile page.

CBS News also identified the wrong man, broadcasting Lanza's name and photo to millions of people across the states.

Finally, a staff writer called Ryan Lanza and found him to be alive. But the negligence shown by the media in their rush to relate a horrifying event, without confirming the facts, could very well have led to an innocent man being hurt or even worse for a crime he had nothing to do with.

Careless reporting could more than likely have damaged Ryan Lanza's reputation and livelihood. Yet has any of the these so called journalists apologized publicly for their callous disregard for a man's life?

While the powerful media have endlessly criticized the growing ranks of citizen journalists as unqualified and smear artists, it appears these hypocrites themselves are incapable of obtaining a source or even checking a simple fact.